Child Abuse Awareness Month

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By Nancy Hastings

Hillsdale.net - Hillsdale, MI

By Nancy Hastings

Posted Apr. 5, 2013 at 9:14 AM

By Nancy Hastings

Posted Apr. 5, 2013 at 9:14 AM

Hillsdale, Mich.

nancy.hastings@hillsdale.net

In an effort to increase awareness of child abuse and neglect, Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness of Hillsdale County (CAPA) is distributing pinwheels, the symbol for child abuse prevention, as part of the national Pinwheels for Prevention campaign.Since April 2008, more than three million pinwheels have been have been distributed nationwide. In Hillsdale, CAPA Executive Director Christie Campbell plans to pass out pinwheels April 9 at the Hello Hillsdale Breakfast, put on by the Chamber of Commerce.Campbell said child abuse is one of the reasons why there are so many in foster care in Hillsdale County.“There were also over 1,000 calls to central intake last year and that is very upsetting,” Campbell said.In the state of Michigan, Campbell cited over 15,000 Michigan children are living in out of home placements. Every day (statewide) 58 more children are identified to live in a family with allegations of abuse or neglect.The problem is not just statewide; in Hillsdale County there are 73 children in foster care. According to Laura Gillen, program manager at DHS, the top three reasons children enter foster care in Hillsdale County are: parental drug use, physical abuse and domestic violence.“Statewide the numbers of neglect and abuse cases are shocking,” Campbell said. “Locally and statewide these numbers are unacceptable. To think that every one of these 73 kids currently in foster care in Hillsdale has been subjected to an unhealthy and destructive home life is distressing. These are our kids, the next residents and leaders of our county and country.”Campbell said that Hillsdale County, as rated by Kid’s Count, a statewide assessment of child welfare on a county basis, is ranked 62nd out of the 82 counties of Michigan.“We’re definitely on the lower end of the list,” Campbell. “This is something that needs to change.”Campbell said CAPA of Hillsdale County has been distributing pinwheels in an effort to raise awareness during Child Abuse Prevention Month. She organized a picture taken as an event designed to promote awareness of the 70 (now 73) children currently in Hillsdale County’s foster care system.“It was designed to entreat community members to view each child in an individual, with hopes and dreams, affected by abuse or neglect and not simply as a number,” she said.It is estimated that every dollar spent in prevention of child abuse or neglect saves seven dollars that would have been spent to right such a situation using foster care and other state and county services.Regardless of the economic benefit, the fact that prevention eliminates the victim of a child abuse or neglect case is priceless, Campbell said.